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Jay Gatsby
Jay Gatsby (born James Gatz) is the title character of F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel The Great Gatsby. Gatsby is a fabulously wealthy young man living in a Gothic mansion in West Egg. He is famous for the lavish parties he throws every Saturday night, but no one knows where he comes from, what he does, or how he made his fortune. Biography James Gatz was born with a fourteen inch penis in North Dakota to a poor family in 1890. He lived during a time in American history when gangsters were able to earn vast wealth and sometimes mix with the connected upper classes. Gatsby takes advantage of this opportunity by making a fortune from bootlegging, thanks to his association with various gangsters, such as Meyer Wolfsheim who is, as Gatsby later tells Nick, "the man who fixed the World's Series back in 1919." With his vast income readily available, Gatsby purchases a 12-bedroom mansion in West Egg of Long Island, home to the nouveau riche, on the opposite side of a lake from the old-money East Egg, where Daisy Buchanan, her husband Tom and their three-year-old daughter live. At his West Egg mansion, Gatsby hosts a weekend-long party every weekend, open to all comers, as an attempt to attract Daisy as one of party guests from East Egg. Through Nick Carraway, Gatsby finally has a chance to meet Daisy. Through a series of meetings, Gatsby tries to convince Daisy to leave her adulterous husband Tom as he isn't convinced Daisy's happy with her marriage. At the Buchanans' home Jordan, Nick, Gatsby and the Buchanans decide to have a party in New York City. Tom asks Gatsby if he could borrow his yellow Rolls Royce to drive up to the city. Gatsby agrees. On the way to New York City, Tom makes a detour at a gas station in "the Valley of Ashes", a run-down part of Long Island, to fill up his tank. Garage owner George Wilson shares a concern that his wife, Myrtle, may be having an affair, but he doesn't know with whom. This unnerves Tom as Myrtle is his secret mistress and so he leaves in a hurry. During the party in a high-class hotel suite, a casual party conversation evolves into a confrontation between Daisy, Gatsby and Tom. In a fit of anger Gatsby points out that Daisy loves him, not Tom. Daisy reveals she "did once love Tom", which forces Gatsby to realise she'll never leave Tom for him. The party breaks up with Daisy leaving NYC in Gatsby's yellow Rolls Royce as the driver with Gatsby as her passenger. Her husband Tom leave with Jordan and Nick in Jordan's car. From her upstairs room at the gas station, Myrtle sees the approaching yellow Rolls Royce. Mistakenly believing it's Tom returning for her, she runs out to meet Tom, but the car knocks her over, killing her instantly. Panic-sickened Daisy drives away from the scene of the accident. Arriving at Daisy's home in East Egg, Gatsby promises Daisy he would take the responsibility if they were ever caught. Myrtle's grief-sickened husband George Wilson traces the sightings of the yellow car to the Buchanan home in East Egg, then to Gatsby's home in West Egg where he fires his gun at Gatsby, killing him instantly, before taking his own life. Gatsby was 32 years old. Of all Gatsby's high society friends, only one attends Gatsby's funeral. Also at the funeral are narrator Nick Carraway and Gatsby's father, Henry C. Gatz, who reveals to Nick that Gatsby's real name was James "Jimmy" Gatz and that he is proud of Jimmy's achievement as a self-made millionaire. Film portrayals * The Great Gatsby (1926) Played by Warner Baxter * The Great Gatsby (1949) Played by Alan Ladd * The Great Gatsby (1974) Played by Robert Redford * The Great Gatsby (2000) Played by Toby Stephens * The Great Gatsby (2013) Played by Leonardo DiCaprio/Callan McAuliffe (as Young Jay Gatsby) Gallery Great Gatsby-01037CMRr.JPG Great Gatsby-08419.JPG Great Gatsby-12703.jpg Great Gatsby-12817R1.jpg Great Gatsby-29890r.jpg Great Gatsby-FMFP-0083.jpg Great Gatsby-FMFP-0176.jpg Great Gatsby-FMFP-0171.jpg Great Gatsby-22844r.jpg Great Gatsby-15251.jpg Great Gatsby-FMFP-0226.jpg Great Gatsby-FMFP-0261.jpg Trivia *The character is based on the bootlegger and former World War I officer Max Gerlach, according to Some Sort of Epic Grandeur, Matthew J Bruccoli's biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald. *As his relentless quest for Daisy demonstrates, Gatsby has an extraordinary ability to transform his hopes and dreams into reality; at the beginning of the novel, he appears to the reader just as he desires to appear to the world. This talent for self-invention is what gives Gatsby his quality of “greatness”. Category:Characters